How to be Scary
by Shinobi and Sailor
Summary: Thistle the mawile is one of the two non-ghost-types in her town. She desperately wants to be "scary" like the ghosts of her town, and has what it takes appearance-wise, but her conscience and tendency to feel incredibly guilty after a prank gets in the way. Luckily, her friends Garret and Patched are there to help her out on her adventures, and to teach her how to be scary.
1. PROLOGUE

** .:How to be Scary:. **

**prologue**

"Mo-mommy, I don't like it here," a small mawile whimpered, clinging to a megamawile's arm. "It's dark all the time, and scary, and...!"

The megamawile chuckled and patted her daughter's head, from which a pair of crocodile-like jaws sprouted. "Calm down, Thistle, it's not that bad. You'll get used to it." The megamawile's name was called, and she lifted her triple-jawed head to see a mismagious and froslass make their ghostly way over to her. She gave her little girl one more pat on the head. "Go make some friends, OK? Be back at the house by suppertime." With that, the megamawile walked over to the ghostly duo, leaving her daughter all alone.

Thistle gulped. This new home her mother had brought her to was called Spectre Valley. She didn't like it, not one bit. All the buildings were old and rickety and she swore every one of them was slightly tilted to one side, including her own haunted-mansion-esque home. The roads were all cobblestone, making her rule of never stepping on lines on a sidewalk very difficult to follow through with. And worst of all, the place was populated by ghost-types and ghost-types ONLY, who fancied this place over all others because it seemed to always be evening or night, 24/7 (it was evening in the morning, maybe very early morning around noon, and nighttime at all other times). She was a four-year-old mawile. What kind of four-year-old mawile wouldn't be afraid of both the dark and ghosts?

The mawile, with one last shuddering sigh, steeled herself (like her type) and started to wander around the dark town, her horns (jaws) flopping against the backs of her short legs.

_Why did Mommy choose this town?_ Thistle thought while meandering under a stone arch uneasily._ Daddy gave us enough money to move to a really pretty town! Prettier than this! Not to mention there are spidey-webs everywhere, and haunted houses, and -_

Her train of thought was cut off when, all of a sudden, a navy-blue uni-horned head popped out of the wall closest to her. "BLEH!"

_"AAAAAAAIEH!_" Thistle cried. In her frightened frenzy, she stumbled over her pair of oversized horns, toppling onto the cobblestone road behind her. Tears began to well up in her light red eyes. Her head darted side-to-side, searching for the source of her fright, until it once again appeared right in front of her. Laughing. Hard.

"Oh, man! Didja see that, Patched? She jumped, like, FIVE meters into the air, I swear!" it howled. Thistle narrowed her eyes at what seemed to be a castform wearing a navy-blue sheet over its head. It focused its blue...dark blue...and yellow eyes at her. "You should've seen the look on your face! PRICELESS!"

Thistle bit back tears. She was shivering in fear._ I must look like a fool_. "W-wha..." she forced out. But the words didn't make it out of her mouth before her tears overflowed. Before she knew it, she was a crying, whimpering mess.

The thrilled expression on the thing in front of her fell. "Uh...are you OK?" A purple, gem-eyed - literally - creature poked its head out of the wall its friend came out of. "Patched, help me here!" When no response came from the gem-eyed Pokemon other than a kyehh, it gulped nervously. As Thistle continued to cry in front of them, they decided to bolt off for help.

Thistle watched the two foreign Pokemon dart off and tried to calm down. It didn't work. Then, something - something _solid_ - patted her head. She raised her tear-filled eyes to meet yellow ones. She gasped out of fright. A chandelure. "N-no..." she gurgled. "No more g-ghosts..."

The chandelure let out a jingling, clattering noise that Thistle assumed to be laughter. "Don't worry, love," it chirped in a femenine voice that surprised her. "I'm not going to scare you. Unless I already have. But that's besides the point." She floated in front of the young mawile.

"What happened to you? You can tell Auntie Soulette all about it, honey."

"S-some Pokemon...some Pokemon scared me. T-that's all."

Soulette sighed and closed her eyes, then shook her head. "Let's get you home. I'll assume you to be one of the two that moved here today? They're the only non-ghost-types in this town right now, and you don't look like a ghost to me. "

* * *

Later, Thistle sat a little more comfortably on her bed of a blanket, a pillow, and another blanket that served as a mattress. She was in her (haunted) house now, having been carried her by a decidedly friendly ghost-type, AKA Auntie Soulette the chandelure. It turned out they were neighbours. Her mother had been contacted immediately, and said megamawile was currently fixing an early supper for the two of them after fussing over her teary-eyed daughter for ten-fifteen minutes.

"Thistle, you have visitors," her mother's voice said through her bedroom door. "Shall I let them in?"

"OK," Thistle said. Her voice was still a tad bit shaky and unsure. Two familiar faces entered the room, and her heart pounded with anxiety. It was those two from earlier...Patched and something. Before she could protest, her mother shut the sliding door, leaving her alone with them. Now, Thistle really wished she was a ghost-type, just so she could jump through her bedroom wall and escape to the outdoors.

An unsettling silence descended upon her new room, until the dark blue floating one cleared its throat. "Your room's pretty empty."

"Yeah, I just moved here today..."

"I see." A few more seconds of uncomfortable silence passed, then it spoke again. "We came here to say sorry for scaring you. Right, Patched?"

"Yeah," Patched the gem-eyed Pokemon said. "Sorry."

Thistle felt surprised. They were apologizing? Gradually, the image of a terrifying, three-eyed ghost that had been burned into her mind representing what ghosts were to her faded away as she replied, "Oh, it's okay...I was just overwhelmed, that's all..."

Both of the ghost-types in front of her seemed to relax with relief. Upon further inspection, they appeared to be around her age, if that were possible. Patched was the same height as her, anyway, and the floating blue sheet...how does one judge that one's age, anyway?

"I'm Garret," it said. "The shuppet."

"Nice to meet you...I'm Thistle, the mawile..."

"Wanna, wanna play?" Patched said, bearing a grin filled with razor-sharp teeth that would be the definition of terrifying to Thistle a few hours ago, if it weren't for the fact that she now found it quite cute, in its own way.

She found herself smiling too. "O-OK," she agreed.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

It's short. I know. But it's only the prologue so cut me some slack.

Alright, this is a Shinobi-exclusive story for now, meaning only Shinobi Sundae will be writing it. Not sure if Sailor will jump onto the creepy-crawly-cute bandwagon like I did recently yet. And I really really like mawile, sableye, and banette. Sableye looks like Stitch. Adorable :3

Reviews are greatly appreciated.


	2. CHAPTER 1

** .:How to be Scary:. **

**chapter one**

The town of Spectre Valley was a quaint place to some, with its charming cobblestone roads and victoria-styled architecture. But to everyone else, it was one of the creepiest places to visit you could think of. Tilted buildings, ghostly residents, and spiderwebs everywhere. It was no lively metropolis - quite the opposite, considering the residents' type. The sun made its appearance for an hour to an hour and a half max, from three-thirty to four-thirty in the afternoon, usually. The time before three-thirty the sky was always a reddish-orange, giving off an evening-ish feel, and the time after the sky would darken until, at the young hour of six, it was a deep navy blue. Put shortly, it was a spooky place.

One particular non-ghost tore through the cobblestone streets at a pace you could only describe as: hyper. And she was.

"GARREEEEET! PAAATCHED!" Thistle the mawile screeched, forcing her way through ghost-types and solid wandering merchants. She was now twelve, the age Pokemon were allowed to embark on journeys without a guardian. And she couldn't be more excited. That very moment she was racing towards her close friends, a banette named Garret and a sableye named Patched. She approached the haggard building of rotting wood that was Spectre Valley's school. Thistle remembered her two friends' tendencies to hang around the school on Friday evenings.

As the moon shone down full force on Thistle's maroon crocodile jaws that hung behind her like a ponytail with a savage temper, she cheerfully took in the somehow soothing scent of rotting oak wood. She had just made it to the doors when she was stopped by a clique of Pokemon in her class. At the front were the ringleaders, a female frillish and froslass named Parfait and Sereceta respectively. They both bore smirks that said they were up to no good on their elegantly-carved faces. Behind them were three or four litwick and lampent, bearing the same expressions as their leaders.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the fatty?" Parfait sneered with mock-sweetness. The bullies had begun calling her "fatty" after demonstrating how hard it was for a steel-and-fairy-type to pass through walls, by clunking to the floor after a nasty meeting between her head and the wall. "What's a rock-brain like you doing here after school hours? You barely seem to pay any attention while in class."

"She must come after school to force Garret - " swoons from the entire clique, which Thistle rolled her light red eyes at - "and Patched - " more swoons. _These airheads are ridiculous -_ "to give her all the answers!"

"That dirty little - !"

"Little rat, I'll soooo get her - "

Thistle spoke up before the clique turned into an angry mob, which it had before. "I-I'm not here to force them to g-give me the answers!" She had never gotten rid of that stutter. It acted up whenever she was around people she didn't like or know very well. "I'm j-just going to ask them to come with me on my j-journey..." Oops. She said too much.

Parfait and Sereceta's mouths were now shaped in perfect "o"s, which was no small feat for a froslass. Sereceta snapped, "As if they would go with you on a journey meant to heighten our scaring skills! You can be as scary as a newborn skitty, and that's on a good day!"

"The scariest thing about you is your hair, for sure," Parfait said snidely, gesturing with a frilly fin at the pair of jaws dangling behind her. Thistle frowned slightly. Her jaws shouldn't be classified as "hair". "And your looks. You're uglier than a dying stunfisk!" A round of oh-so-perfect laughter and giggles erupted from the clique. As the hurtful laughter died down, Parfait sneered in a more serious tone, "But your ugly looks alone aren't good enough. You need to have the stuff it takes for the job. The perfect roar, the perfect plots, the perfect personality..."

"Three strikes, you're out~!" a litwick sang. More laughter. Thistle huffed. She'd had enough of this for one day. As she started to force her way through the crowd, she was roughly pushed by an ice-cold arm that belonged to Sereceta.

"You're not going anywhere, loser," she said. A sudden shard of ice collided painfully with Thistle's forehead. She raised her head warily.

"I d-don't have time for this," she stated flatly. "P-please let me t-through."

Suddenly, Parfait squealed. "We don't have time for this either, Sereceta! We have a spa appointment in fifteen!" She grabbed Sereceta's icy hand and dragged her off presumably spa-bound. The rest of their little gang dispersed, with nothing better to do.  
Thistle stood up and brushed off the little icy bits all over her from that ice shard. That was the last straw. Just because she wasn't a ghost type didn't mean she couldn't be scary! She stormed through the doors of the school and headed towards her classroom, where Garret and Patched were sure to be.

She was still fuming when she burst into her classroom, startling her two friends so badly they fell off the desks they had seated themselves on. Upon seeing this, a small pang of guilt brushed her heart. "Garret! Patched! I'm sorry, I'm just in a really bad mood!" she hurriedly apologized.

Garret was the first to recover. The banette hauled himself back onto the desk with a three-fingered hand, similar to the other two's. "Geez, wouldja quit apologizing, woman? We're fine! Right, Patched?" A weak _nyeh_ came from the floor where the sableye had fallen. Thistle was stopped from rushing over to her fallen friend's aid when Garret dismissively waved his hand at her. "So what's got your circuits overheating?"

Thistle sat down in the desk next to his. "Parfait and Sereceta," she seethed.

"Sereceta's pretty good-lookin', ain't she?" Garret remarked. He couldn't help but purposely bug his friend every day.

Thistle shot him a glare, being used to his remarks after eight years. The jaws behind her growled menacingly, a skill she had been working on for a while now. It added to her scariness.

"You know that doesn't work on me right?" Garret said, his zippered smirk growing when her face burned a dangerous red.

She glared again. Her gaze softened when Patched settled into the desk on the unoccupied side of her without so much as a bruise.  
"So, anyways, you know how we're allowed to go on our journeys now?" Thistle said excitedly. She continued after receiving grunts of agreement. Abruptly, the oddly-coloured mawile stepped onto the desk, making her look taller. She crossed her arms and declared, "While on our journey, I need you guys to teach me how to be scary!"

Silence.

Then, cackles of laughter.

Suddenly, Thistle felt very silly, standing on the desk with her arms crossed like they were. She was the shortest, being only fourty-something centimeters, while Garret towered over her at sixty-eight centimeters and Patched still being taller than her at fifty-six. "Come on guys, please?" She stepped down from the desk and clasped her maroon hands together pleadingly. "Everyone's gonna make fun of me if I come back from my journey being as scary as a newborn skitty!"

"Whatever, Thistle," Garret said, walking away. "Come on, let's go get some bubble tea."

* * *

As the threesome walked down the street, Thistle continued to beg, tugging on Garret's zig-zag ribbon sprouting from the back of his head. Patched merely followed behind her, not sure what he should do.

"Come ooooooon, Garreeeeeeet," Thistle moaned. "You guys have to heeeeeelp meeeeeee..." She pulled again at his head.

"Patched, pull her off," Garret groaned.

"Kyeh!" Patched seized his friend by the waist, being careful to avoid the ponytail-like jaws she sported. He set her down and patted her head.

Garret turned to Thistle with an annoyed expression on his creepy face. An annoyed banette is not a pleasant banette, and most Pokemon would high-tail it outta there subtly if they ever came across one. But Thistle had been Garret's friend since they were four and when he was still a shuppet, so it didn't faze her in the least. "Alright, Thistle, I have a proposition for you," he growled, pointing at the space between her eyes. She crossed her eyes, trying to look at the pointed appendage. "We will help you with your...scare-training, during our journey, IF you cook dinner every night, not get mad at us if things go wrong, and get groceries every time we may need them during our adventures. Deal?" Now, he held his hand out to Thistle. She smirked and clasped his hand in a handshake.

"Deal."

"BUBBLE TEA!" Patched shrieked. And indeed, they were now at the bubble tea stall. Thistle smiled at her eccentric friend's antics. Then, said friend suddenly seized her again, this time by the wrist, along with Garret, and dragged them towards the stall.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Augh ok my shoulder hurts

I decided to update on the same day because one, I was really excited about the story, and two, I already have a review. Reviews are encouraging, but I would appreciate some criticism if anyone can provide any.

Reviews are most appreciated.

Shinobi


	3. CHAPTER 2

**.:How to be Scary:.**

**chapter two**

Thistle shot up in bed at six AM on the dot. Today was the day. She didn't care that her eyes burned from lack of sleep last night, or how tired she felt, or how hungry she was. Today was the day she would embark on the two-year journey with her two closest friends.  
She was undeniably excited as she grabbed some things she would need. A photo of her and her mother from the nightstand, a scarf from her dresser in the corner for when it got cold, an entire ziplock bag of oran berries and pecha berries, her cooking supplies, and last but not least...

Thistle plopped back onto her bed. Her bulging bag lay at the foot of the bed. And after all this, she'd still have to wait another five-six hours for her two sleepyheads to even consider waking up. She rolled her eyes. Slakoths.

_Well, there's nothing else to be done about it_, she thought cheerfully before springing up again._ I'll just wake them up myself!_ And with that thought, she started her trip over to the Spectre Valley Orphanage, where Patched stayed.

The streets were barren in the early hour, much to her relief. The sky was a sort of bluish-blackish-orange, as if debating over whether it should be night or evening, and Thistle couldn't help but feel happy, just...happy. The place was scary to her at first. It had taken her a long while to get used to its quirks. At first, she would cower away from every shadow or ghost, but while her fear of the dark and ghosts still remained, she was no longer afraid of the ghosts of Spectre Valley or the shadows ever-present in the streets. This was her home now.  
The orphanage stood out from the other buildings of the town in that it seemed perfectly intact structurewise (with, of course, the Spectre Valley signature tilt). However, Thistle had been inside the orphanage enough to burn into her mind the phrase "looks can be deceiving". It was a wreck on the inside, whether from all the ghost-children hyped up all the time, or the negligent caretakers, she didn't know.

After scaling the wall using the vines that ate away at the wood, she woke Patched, careful not to wake any others. It was difficult keeping Patched from doing so.

Now, they walked side-by-side down the streets towards Garret's house. Garret lived with his mom and sister, a 3-banette family. His parents were divorced, apparently. All Garret had told Thistle and Patched was that his dad was a "stupid Dusknoir" and didn't deserve to live, and also that if he ever saw him he would kill him. It scared Thistle that Garret could be that vengeful.

"Patched...excited," the sableye next to her rasped. She smiled.

"That's good. I'm excited too," Thistle replied.

"Patched, also...hungry."

To this, Thistle laughed. "We'll have breakfast before we leave, okay?"

A sharp-toothed grin spread across the sableye's face, before they came across Garret's front door. Thistle turned away and started for the window of Garret's room. Patched followed.

"Garret!" Thistle whisper-called. Thankfully the window was open. A few shuffles were heard before a tired banette came to the window. "You ready yet?"

The banette looked at her like she was crazy, which she was to some extent. "Thistle, it's six sixteen AM and I just woke up."

"I woke up sixteen minutes ago and all my stuff's ready. Your point?"

Garret groaned and looked around for a second, drowsy. "I don't know where my bandanna is. I think I lost it."

Thistle snorted and crossed her arms. "Thankfully, I anticipated you losing it, so I stole it from your desk yesterday. I also took Patched's. They're safely tucked away in my bag as we speak."

Defeated, Garret sighed. "I'll be down in a minute or two. Or an hour..."

"Garret!"

"Fine..."

* * *

A few hours later, all three were seated around the dining table in Thistle's house. Her mother was occupied with the task of making waffles for them; their common favorite.

"So, where are we going, exactly?" the mawile wondered.

Garret held his chin in his hands. "We're supposed to work on our scaring skills and battle skills. I think we should work on our battle skills first - "

"Ga-rret!" Thistle whined.

"What? The Battle Royale is this December! The second sole purpose of this journey is to train us in teams so we're ready for it, remember?" It was true. Every year, Spectre Valley, Esper Village, Tai City, and Shade City would prepare their students of the ages of twelve to fourteen for a Battle Royale, to see which teams could overcome the elemental advantages and disadvantages and demonstrate impeccable teamwork. It was the largest event of the year, the winning village receiving a trophy and tons of prestige. To prepare their students for the impending battle, teachers would send them out through the region in teams of two to six to heighten their battle skills - and a "special" skill, which differed depending on which village you were from. Spectre Valley's special skill was their "scare skill", something Thistle obviously lacked.

"Of course I remember," Thistle replied hastily, "I just thought we should focus on what we lack in. I mean, I've got battle skills down, right?"

"And Patched and I have scare skills down. We need to focus more on our battle skills now," Garret argued.

"But I don't!"

"Majority over minority!"

"Oh, NOW you're just making fun of my size, aren't yo - "

Before Thistle could finish, a plate stacked with waffles was roughly slammed down on the center of the round table. Her mother was beaming at them in a rather sinister way that said_ if you don't shut up right now these waffles will be on your head over a large bump_.  
So they chose the smart option, and shut up.

As Patched gobbled his waffles down greedily, Thistle ate at her waffles at a normal pace, and Garret ate small portions at a time, the megamawile cleaning the dishes thought a little sadly about her precious daughter (temporarily) leaving the nest.

"Oh, Thistle," she called. "Remember to say hi to your father for me. And ask him when he's coming to visit..."

Thistle rolled her eyes, chewing. "Yeah, yeah, mom. I know." Her mother sounded just like a little kid sometimes. On ordinary days, she was like an older sister to her. But she had her motherly moments too.

* * *

Before long, the trio was standing at the gates of Spectre Valley, ready to depart. Each was carrying a brown bag (since Thistle complained about having to carry all of them) and was wearing an orange-and-black scarf. Every Pokemon departing on a training journey had to wear the bandanna of their village.

At the moment, Thistle's was getting soaked by her mother's tears in their good-bye embrace.

"Mo-m, my bandanna is getting wet," she complained. "I'll be fine, okay?"

"You promise to call?"

"Yeah..."

"And to take care of yourself?"

"Of course..."

"And - "

"Mom!"

With one last reassuring squeeze, her mom let go. Garret's parent had come to see him off, too. But unlike Thistle's mother, she was very dispassionate about her offspring and merely gave him a nod of the head.

"Let's go," Garret growled, turning away from his mother. His two friends followed cheerfully, unaware of the banette's cold feelings towards his mother.

* * *

"So, are we just going to wander around in this forest?" Thistle asked blandly. Garret was currently struggling to make sense of the complex map in his hands, to no avail.

"J-just a second! I got this!" he exclaimed.

_No you don't_, Thistle thought.

"Star!" Patched cried, pointing at a particularly bright star. Garret saw his chance and took it.

"There! That's the North Star!" he said, folding up the map quickly. "If we follow it, it should lead us to the nearest town, Marie's Town. They have a training club that might be helpful."

"So, what are we waiting for?" Thistle said.

"Well, for starters, for Patched to wake up." And to Thistle's dismay, Patched _had_ fallen asleep in the few seconds after he spoke. Once Patched falls asleep, _no one_ can wake him up.

Thistle groaned. "Well, I guess Marie's Town will have to wait..."The mawile took a blanket and pillow out of Patched's bag, then set his head on the pillow and draped the blanket over him. She took out her sleeping bag and set it down on the grass. The ground was lumpy with tree roots and weeds, but she was too tired at this point to care. "Night, guys."

Garret, who had not taken a sleeping bag and simply leaned against a tree, merely said, "Yeah."

That night, they would conclude that, after receiving numerous bug bites and a poison ivy rash, they hated camping.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Ok I know this chapter isn't very good but good news, next chapter is when the action really starts.

"Thistle's first prank"

Oh and I forgot to put the disclaimer in previous chapters, but I don't own Pokemon.

Reviews are always appreciated.

Shinobi


End file.
